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National schools volleyball bronze medallists Nyabondo Boys have been stripped of their award by game officials for fielding ineligible players and were removed from their residential training camp in Kakamega.

The team was training alongside other qualified national school teams to represent Kenya at the 21st East Africa School Games in Uganda.

Nyabondo Boys has also been slapped with a two-year ban by the Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA).

A fuming Nyabondo Boys principal Jared Opanga criticized the decision by KSSSA, which was made late at night on August 11, as unfair and possibly influenced by financial dealings among KSSSA officials.

Opanga claimed that the biased decision was made by only three KSSSA executive committee members, rather than the full 28-member committee.

He alleged that the committee was divided on the decision, and the action against Nyabondo Boys was not unanimous.

“I was summoned on Sunday night at 7.30pm by three KSSSA officials—vice-chairman Maurice Okumu, secretary David Ngugi, and treasurer Kariuki Gikonyo—and handed a letter bundling the team out of residential training camp in Kakamega and stripping Nyabondo Boys the bronze medal. There are suspicions of money changing hands, and Nyabondo Boys, which was set to make its debut at the East Africa School Games, was sacrificed,” Opanga explained.

KSSSA vice-secretary Quinto Omusugu confirmed that a petition was lodged by Hospital Hill School against Nyabondo Boys for allegedly fielding ineligible players during the national school games